


The Color of Sunset

by ruination_fangs



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Crimson Flower Route, Established Relationship, F/M, Male My Unit | Byleth, Post-Canon, actually a bunch of cheesy post-game headcanons masquerading as a fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-30
Updated: 2020-08-30
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:56:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26198965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ruination_fangs/pseuds/ruination_fangs
Summary: Sometimes a family is two people and the entire population of the country they created, and that's okay.
Relationships: Dorothea Arnault/Petra Macneary, Edelgard von Hresvelg/My Unit | Byleth, Ferdinand von Aegir/Bernadetta von Varley, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 37





	The Color of Sunset

Byleth thinks sunset might be the most beautiful time of day in Enbarr.

When the sun starts to reach the horizon and dyes the whole sky orange, the light intensifies the red banners that fly above the palace and hang from the parapets, and sets their gold insignias alight. Far-off wisps of cloud are painted pink and red and a rusty gray, and underneath them the air is clear enough that one can see for miles from the top of the castle towers.

The southeastern tower is one of his favorite spots to go at this time of day, when he's free from his obligations as advisor to the emperor. He likes to think that when his counsel as a mercenary and teacher is no longer needed, he shifts into his other, much more desirable role, as simply the emperor-consort - so he's not surprised when Edelgard joins him before long. It's one of her favorite spots in the castle, too.

They lean forward against the high stone wall, where the breeze tugs at their clothing and lifts loose strands of Edelgard's hair from her face. She's still dressed in the attire she wears for most of her official duties, though she's left her crown behind somewhere. The red vestments all but glow in the overpowering rays of the setting sun, and the light highlights the shadows under her eyes.

Byleth tilts his head, and Edelgard rubs at her temples.

"Ferdinand is intolerably distracted. The baby's not due for another two weeks, but he keeps trying to rush through everything so he can go home as soon as possible, and Hubert is furious about all the mistakes he's making. If he doesn't calm down and do his work properly, I fear his child will grow up without a father."

Expression unchanged, Byleth says, "Hubert should probably get used to it. I doubt Ferdinand will be much more put together once he's held the child in his arms."

"He's already planning to spend the first few weeks with Bernadetta. I can only hope that when he gets back he'll be calmer."

"I don't know. He might not get much sleep."

"Then perhaps he'll be glad to come back to Enbarr."

Not the most charitable thought, but a practical one that both the emperor and her husband can appreciate. They lapse into silence for a few minutes, admiring the brilliant red of the horizon and the strip of ocean visible to the south, before Edelgard says, "Did you see that Dorothea and Petra are thinking about adopting?" 

Byleth nods. He read their letter the day it arrived, and has been struggling to come up with anything interesting to add to the reply Edelgard is surely working on. It's a side effect of peace that he should be grateful for, that nothing much has happened since their last letter, and he is; but while the routine is comforting, he can't shake the vague, nagging thought that maybe they've reached the point in their lives where things become... repetitive.

He was accustomed, once, to living his life just going through the motions. That changed the day he met Edelgard, and somehow changed even more the day they won the war. It's unsettling to think that listless feeling could ever return. Not now, not after he's learned what true happiness is.

Edelgard goes on, "Petra said it would be a good compromise, politically. Tradition is strong in Brigid, and the people might more easily accept her decision to end the royal bloodline if the next ruler was still raised as the queen's child. After all, they haven't undergone any drastic social upheavals recently, so many of them see no reason for the change."

Byleth's smile is a little wry. Leave it to Edelgard to be more interested in the political ramifications of having a family than the sentimental ones.

"And they'd prefer to adopt?" he asks, and Edelgard answers a little less readily.

"For now. Dorothea said they might like to have their own, eventually. It is... possible," and the reddish hue on her cheeks might not be from the sunset. "But it's a big decision, and I'm sure they have a lot to consider first."

Byleth hums his agreement. They all have a lot to consider, given their social positions and the uncertainty of the future. The war may be over, but Fódlan is changing rapidly; there's no telling what kind of world their children will inherit. And in any case, there's so much to do that it's hard to find the time to sit down and think about adding parenthood to their list of responsibilities.

Yet it seems to be on Edelgard's mind a lot recently. To be fair, it's hard for it not to be, when Ferdinand is constantly fretting about becoming a father. Even Byleth has been forced into the realization that this is the age where people do things like that. Bernadetta's pregnancy, Petra finding an heir... Of course, Caspar is still more focused on his military career than his romantic life, and Linhardt has only recently asked out the colleague he continually talks about, and Hubert is too busy being Hubert for such trifling matters as love. But Edelgard and Byleth were the first among their friends to marry, and yet the only couple with no designs for a family.

Before he can think better of it, he asks, "And what about you?"

"Me?" Edelgard turns to him, brows raised. "What about me?"

"Your classmates are having children. Do you want anything like that?"

In the next few seconds Edelgard's expression betrays several emotions - surprise, concern, a hint of amusement. Byleth knows he still has a tendency to be too straightforward at times, despite his now-beating heart and its capacity for embarrassment and hesitation, but Edelgard has never much minded that.

"...To be honest," she finally says, "no. It may be years yet before I am able to abdicate the throne, and in that time there will be no shortage of things to do. And I never really..." She sighs, looking down over the city. "As a child I never had much in the way of hopes or fantasies of my personal future, the way so many little girls do. Romance, weddings, children... I couldn't be sure I would live to see any of those come to fruition, or that I would have a say in them if they did. They have never been my priority, and at this point I doubt they ever will be."

Byleth only nods, and Edelgard seems to accept that as response enough. What else can he say? She knows by now that he never harbored such wishes, never felt he had the capacity to. He spent his younger years taking each day as it came, and she spent hers dreaming of a brighter future for her country, not herself.

They ponder that in silence for a while as the sky becomes darker, bleeding purple at the edges. The wind picks up a little. Beside Byleth, Edelgard shifts her weight.

"I know what people will say," she eventually goes on. "For my bloodline - for both our bloodlines - to end here is a terrible waste of potential. But... to be the culmination of a thousand years of royalty, and the bearer of a long-forgotten crest, and have no desire to continue those legacies... Is that strange?"

Byleth shakes his head. "Those things don't matter anymore. You've brought about a new era, where crests and lineage are superficial. You are the mother to a new Fódlan. What better legacy could there be than that?"

He half expects Edelgard to argue - that it wasn't her who gave rise to their new world, it was all of them, the people, together - but instead he sees her smile faintly before leaning her head against his shoulder.

"Then if I am to be its mother, I hope history will remember you as its father."

It's not something Byleth has ever really thought about. He's never fought for fame or glory; he didn't even participate in the war for the sake of Edelgard's ideals so much as for Edelgard herself. It's strange to think of his name appearing in historical documents, and honestly, Edelgard's wish may very likely not come true. He's always been her silent partner, directing battles from behind the scenes while she takes center stage as instigator, icon, and leader in every other sense.

And yet...

"Hmm," he hums, lifting an arm to wrap it around her waist. "That might not be so bad."

They are both gloriously human themselves, after all, destined for only a short time upon the earth - but if their names will be carved into history side by side, perhaps they will be together forever.

**Author's Note:**

> on the other hand, it is funny to imagine that after all Edelgard's work to make sure crests don't mean anything anymore, she accidentally breeds an extremely old and powerful crest back into existence because her partner is the ONE person in the world who also carries it. oops


End file.
